When the girls volleyball season extends past Thanksgiving — an experience only 26 teams across the state will get to enjoy this season — it seems the teams staring across the bracket at each other either know each other intimately or know nothing of each other. Mount Madonna School and San Marin, who will be competing Saturday for the CIF NorCal Division V title, can be lumped into the second category.

Following the Hawks’ five-set victory over Clear Lake in the semifinals Tuesday, coach Erin Mitchell said she’d be spending what remained of the night and most likely the entire next day scanning the Internet for film on San Marin. Mustangs coach Michael Mann did the same.

“Unfortunately (the Hawks) don’t have a much of a public profile,” Mann told the Marin Independent Journal. “From what we’ve been able to gather, they are pretty strong defensively and they have two (players) that look like their go-to hitters.”

Junior Mara Peruzzi and sophomore Paola Jacobs have served as the Hawks’ firepower all season and have not drawn back under the do-or-done pressure of the playoffs. They have accounted for 69 of Mount Madonna’s 90 kills in the two NorCal matches. On Tuesday, however, the Hawks diversified quite a bit behind senior setter and floor general Indigo Kelly, who got right-sider Eleanor Harrington and middle Gracie Howley more involved in the offense.

Peruzzi has led the team in digs in both rounds, but the rally-saving efforts of libero AnMei Dasbach-Prisk cannot be discounted.

“We’re definitely excited we’re moving forward,” Dasbach-Prisk said Tuesday. “We’re excited to see what this next team has in store.”

Throughout the NorCal playoffs the Mustangs have relied on a balanced attack. Liz King and Abby Bergerson paced the Mustangs in the quarterfinals with nine kills apiece, then King, Kelsea Bergerson and Emily O’Brien tied for team-high honors with seven kills in the semifinals.

“What’s making us successful right now is we aren’t relying on any one player,” Mann said. “Every one of our hitters is stepping up for the moment. We have five girls with over 100 kills (on the season) which really isn’t common… A great position for a coach to be in is to be able to rely on any player to step up and make the big play.”

King paces San Marin with 228 kills and 43 blocks so far this season. Molly Melville leads the team with 252 digs and Jenna Richardson has a team-high 803 assists.

Strength of schedule could be a key factor in Saturday’s final. Although the teams’ records are almost identical, Mount Madonna (17-11) spent the season battling against bigger schools like co-Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League champions Aptos and Harbor and Central Coast Section Division III champion Soquel, eventually tying for fifth in the league. The Hawks then reached the CCS D-V title match as the No. 3 seed, falling 3-0 to top-seeded Santa Catalina. Santa Catalina, also the No. 1 seed in the NorCal D-III bracket, advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals before losing to No. 4 Lincoln.

On the other hand, San Marin (18-11) spent most of the season dealing with strong teams like Marin Catholic, Branson, Redwood and Drake in the Marin County Athletic League, where the Mustangs tied for fourth with Drake. Drake then knocked San Marin out of the North Coast Section D-V playoffs in the quarterfinals — causing the Mustangs to temporarily believe their season was over — but lost in the first round of the NorCal D-III tourney, also to Lincoln.

“We’re hoping to take advantage of the strength of the MCAL and the way we’ve had to battle through some tough matches and use that to our advantage,” Mann told the IJ.

Really, all either team knows, though is that it has to win this match to advance to the state championships in Orange next week, and that getting there won’t be easy.

“We’re prepared for a fight,” Mitchell said. “We’re prepared for a Santa Catalina type of team. We’ll see what we can do. But I know they’re fired up for sure about playing on Saturday night.”

Ian Ross of the Marin Independent Journal contributed to this article.

Julie Jag joined the Sentinel Sports staff in 2002 and has been the Sports Editor since 2008. During that time, she and the Sentinel Sports staff have won numerous state and national awards for writing, design and multimedia production. Julie loves covering the wide variety of sports Santa Cruz offers, from surfing to mountain biking to basketball. When she's not working, she can be found out on the trails or playing volleyball at the beach.